St Benedict Joseph Labre: Votary of Holy Poverty and Pilgrim

In God's mysterious plan He occasionally raises up a saint who lives a life so radically different from the ordinary that we are reminded how 'other' God is, how true it is when He says in Holy Scripture 'For my thoughts are not your thoughts: nor your ways my ways' (Is 55:8). St Benedict Joseph Labre is one of those saints. Born into an ordinary French family in the mid 18th Century, he started his studies for ordination, then failed in several attempts to enter religious life before finding his true vocation, that of a poor pilgrim. Wandering the roads of Europe without thought for tomorrow, he lived only to love God in the present moment, having complete confidence that God would look after him. So he lived his life as a joyful pilgrim, a silent troubadour of God's love, witnessing to the love of God on the highways and byways. At his death, the man known in Rome as a poor beggar was universally acclaimed a saint and though in life his fetid clothes were enough to keep most at a distance, there was a constant procession of visitors to his body during its unexpected lying in state. Countless miracles were attributed to his intercession and he quickly became one of Rome's beloved saints.

St Benedict Joseph stands as a reminder to all Christians of how much God's love is worth, to which no earthly good compares and for which no price is too great.